The election 2004

If the thousands of Democrat lawyers are unsuccessful in challenging, or decide not to challenge, the Ohio vote, Bush will be the certified winner of the contest. He then will have the power and the responsibility to pursue several objectives, most importantly the war in Iraq, as part of the overall war on terrorism. Look for a major operation to root out insurgents in Fallujah. What will Osama bin Laden's minions do now? If they stage another terror attack in the United States, how will the president respond? Will he find, arrest and deport those among us who are not of us?

The president has promised to reform the indecipherable tax code and Social Security, which Democrats regularly demagogue, but know cannot continue as currently constituted.

Then there is the Supreme Court. With the lessons of Ronald Reagan (Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy) and his father (David Souter) - judges who were sold as conservatives and turned moderate - will the president nominate people who are genuine conservatives and who believe the Constitution is fine as written and does not need to be bent to fit the whims of contemporary culture?

With Daschle gone, will it be easier to get nominees by obstructionist Democrats? Will the Senate write new rules at the start of the next Congress that would require only a majority vote to confirm judges, instead of the impossible "super majority" of 60 votes, which guarantees frustration and the thwarting of the will of the majority?

For conservatives, part of the thrill of this election is that filmmaker Michael Moore, rockers like Bruce Springsteen, billionaire George Soros, MoveOn.org and the rest of the left-wing rabble must be wearing long faces.

Democrats should realize that the McGovern-Mondale-Dukakis-Kerry wing of the Democrat party cannot win. Will they finally wake up, or will they give into temptation and nominate Hillary Clinton in 2008?

The brain trust at the White House, led by Karl Rove, is entitled to celebrate, but they won't gloat, at least in public. This was one of those turning point elections. Now it's up to the president to turn things in order to make his points.